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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Eileen Chong’s luminous poetry examines the histories – personal, familial and cultural – that form our identities and obsessions.

'A Thousand Crimson Blooms is a deepening of her commitment to a poetics of sensuous simplicity and complex emotions, even as she confronts the challenges of infertility or fraught mother–daughter relations. Entwined throughout are questions of migration and belonging.

'Viewed as a whole, this collection is a field of flowers, aflame with light.'' (Publication summary)

Notes

Dedication:

For my grandmother, Yeap Ah Choo
i.m. 1932-2020
Divided into four sections: Paper Boats, The Hymen Diaries, Griefs, and Sweet Truth.

* Contents derived from the St Lucia, Indooroopilly - St Lucia area, Brisbane - North West, Brisbane, Queensland,:University of Queensland Press , 2021 version. Please note that other versions/publications may contain different contents. See the Publication Details.

Singapore Koel"In the land of our birth", Eileen Chong , single work poetry (p. 1)

In My Fortieth Year, I Realise I Am Not Them"The moon rises above clouds—", Eileen Chong , single work poetry (p. 5) Section: Paper Boats

忍"You whet a knife,", Eileen Chong , single work poetry (p. 6) Section: Paper Boats

A Thousand Crimson Blooms"Little ones, let's put pencil to paper,", Eileen Chong , single work poetry (p. 7) Section: Paper Boats

Dog Meals"The dead women always fed me.", Eileen Chong , single work poetry (p. 8) Section: Paper Boats

Rainbow"The first day, we ate the trout", Eileen Chong , single work poetry (p. 9-10) Section: Paper Boats

Courage"I pour out my troubles to my mother.", Eileen Chong , single work poetry (p. 11-12) Section: Paper Boats

Teacher"My mother tells everyone I am a cheecher;", Eileen Chong , single work poetry (p. 13-14) Section: Paper Boats

My Mother, Painting"My mother sends me an image", Eileen Chong , single work poetry (p. 15-16) Section: Paper Boats

Hunger"I have told this story often–I see her:", Eileen Chong , single work poetry (p. 17) Section: Paper Boats

Fortune-telling"When I was fifteen a fortune-teller examined", Eileen Chong , single work poetry (p. 18) Section: Paper Boats

My Mother Talks in Numbers"What is home?", Eileen Chong , single work poetry (p. 19) Section: Paper Boats

A New Year"Another birthday come and gone–", Eileen Chong , single work poetry (p. 20) Section: Paper Boats

Count the Hours"We sit by the bed with its respirators", Eileen Chong , single work poetry (p. 21-22) Section: Paper Boats

The Call"I call my grandmother, and she remembers", Eileen Chong , single work poetry (p. 23) Section: Paper Boats

Ghazal for My Grandmother"I sing to you in the afternoons, grandmother.", Eileen Chong , single work poetry (p. 24) Section: Paper Boats

Float"Hard to believe it was me who held her", Eileen Chong , single work poetry (p. 25) Section: Paper Boats

Spring Festival"The feeling begins in the stomach:", Eileen Chong , single work poetry (p. 26-27) Section: Paper Boats

Paper Boats"They say the first year is for paper—", Eileen Chong , single work poetry (p. 28) Section: Paper Boats

Seeking Heaven"This grass bed,", Eileen Chong , single work poetry (p. 31) Section: The Hymen Diaries

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Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

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Merit in Quietude : Two New Poetry Collections by Eileen Chong and Thuy On James Jiang , 2021 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , July no. 433 2021; (p. 53-54)
— Review of A Thousand Crimson Blooms Eileen Chong , 2021 selected work poetry ; Turbulence Thuy On , 2020 selected work poetry

Australia in Three Books Sara Saleh , 2021 single work review
— Appears in: Meanjin , Winter vol. 80 no. 2 2021;
— Review of After Australia 2020 anthology short story ; A Thousand Crimson Blooms Eileen Chong , 2021 selected work poetry